The age of sport

I was interested to learn that Roger Federer was the first Wimbledon finalist since Jimmy Connors to have passed his 30th birthday. Meanwhile, 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans was the oldest rider to seal the yellow jersey in Paris in the post-war era. This year, at 35 and a half, he looks well past his prime.

So what is the peak age in sport? I looked at details of the current top 15 ranked players across 4 sports (using the final placings at the 2012 Tour for cycling, and official world rankings for the other sports). That analysis produced the averages shown in the chart below. And the optimum age to excel on the international sporting stage, based on my not very scientific analysis, is... 30 years 7 months.

It's surprising to see that there is not much divergence between the mean ages of elite players in these 4 sports, despite their very different physical demands. You might expect golfers to be considerably older than stars of sports that require more speed, reaction and agility. But, at an average age of 33, the world's top golfers are only a couple of years older than their counterparts in cycling and cricket.

In fact, the youngest player in the entire group of sportsmen I analysed was a golfer, Rory McIlroy, at 23 years 2 months. That said, the oldest - Steve Stricker (45) - is also a denizen of the fairways. Clearly golfers can hope for greater longevity than cyclists, tennis players or cricketers.

Tennis stars are the relative babies of the group. Roger Federer, who is 31 in a couple of weeks, is the oldest player in the ATP top 15. The narrow spread of ages in the top 15 - there are only 7 years between youngest player Marin Cilic and the great Rog - underlines the achievement of players like Federer and Sampras in winning grand slams over such long periods.

Cricket presents some interesting contrasts. Batting definitely favours maturity. The world's top ten batsmen are all 27 or over, and their average age is 32. But fast bowlers average a comparatively youthful 29 and a half. And not surprisingly, without the same requirement for pace and aggression, spin bowlers are a tad more senior at just below 32.

Meanwhile in cycling, Bradley Wiggins (soon to be Sir Bradley, then Lord Wiggo, surely) should have a couple more shots at Tour glory in him. But, at 32 already, you wouldn't bet on him winning in 2015 or beyond. In any case, I'm already relishing his battle with comparative youngsters Chris Froome and Andy Schleck - both 27 - in the 2013 race.